Transcript

1:20
Okay, sounds good.
I did set priority speaker, but unfortunately I don't know if I can use it on my phone because it requires a keybind.
So I don't have access to keybinds.
If you can do me a favor though and mute your mic, especially if you are not using push-to talk.
That way there's no feedback and whatnot.
Then if you want to chime in...
Everyone is welcome to chime in obviously.

2:19
Okay, guys.
Let me see if I can read questions while on my phone here.

Time to go to Discord Q&A.
So before we go into questions.

I do want to say that the processing and exploring out opportunities with Ashes of Creation and publishing in both EU and CIS and Russia we had a very very long search.
We chatted with pretty much every possible partner that was available to bring the project to those regions.
And you know, for us really the focus was being able to have a simultaneous launch globally, and in order to do that with the pace that we are moving at and hitting a target before 2020 it really was not an option for us to publish ourselves.
So we knew that finding a partner would require that they not only shared our vision from a anti Pay2Win standpoint and from a quality of service standpoint but that they were willing to make ashes of creation their number one priority from a published game.

Now obviously a lot of publishers that exist out there, they have a lot of games under their belt, and sometimes small games can get lost in the mix of responsibilities that a publisher might have so we wanted to make sure that a publisher understood and recognized that ashes of creation will very likely be one of the largest MMORPGs to release in a very good amount of time.
And you know my.com and mail.ru like many publishers they come with good and bad just like developers do.
But in our discussions with them we felt most confident and sincere that their company was focused on sharing our vision from not just a design standpoint and a monetization standpoint, in turning the page on what has previously been a market dominated by Eastern developers with particular monetization tactics that are more acceptable in their regions, but that they wanted to share the course forward with a Western developer like Intrepid Studios and emphasize a different path, kind of less traveled over the past decade.

So we felt most sincere with my.com and mail.ru intent to follow through with that which is why we were really excited in
announcing our partnership with them for Europe and Russia.
Now aside, I have read and seen the concerns, even though today was a unbelievably busy day I have obviously read and watched the comment in Discord and you know part of that is not just a creative vision standpoint, because that is a fairly easily alleviated concern, understanding even my,com coming to the discord and expressing that point that our vision is 100% we are in
control of that.

But additionally that from a customer service standpoint, from a server standpoint and quality of service that we have stipulated very particular performance benchmarks in order to publish Ashes of Creation in EU and in Russia and those will be adhered to.

We have that in ink.
So regardless of the history that may exist and the perception in eyes of our community or in the broader MMORPG community I would ask that...
I would ask a bit of leeway and understanding and trust from you guys as a community in the fact that I understand the reputation and history of many publishers I have run a very large guild.
I would ask the trust of the community that I would never form a partnership and relationship to the degree that we will be forming one with my.com and mail.ru if I did not have the utmost confidence regardless of whatever history might exist that their commitment to not only the project Ashes of Creation but to our vision would be one that moves our community into a very good position both from a customer service standpoint and a quality of service as well.
But let me start addressing the questions.

So at the moment there obviously is a discussion with regards to region lock.
There is no definitive answer.
It is very possible that there will not be a region lock.
We're capable of identifying players and accounts and tagging them as either European or Russian.
So the answer to your question is at this moment I don't know, but it's very possible and I would say likely that there won't be a region lock because we can identify players as a part of their region without having to IP block.

Is the maintenance and patch updates on EU servers managed by Intrepid instead of my.com?

So all content is created by Intrepid Studios with regards to maintenance will be implemented at the discretion and instruction by Intrepid Studios and patch updates will follow the update schedule that Intrepid Studios set forth.

Will the Oceanic and South East Asian region be thrown in the pit of evil with Europe?

So the answer to that is at this moment in time we do not have a publisher in mind for Oceanic and Southeast region of Asia so
we will likely be self-publishing in OCE.
But it is very possible that legal restrictions may be applied to that type of publishing and if we can do so in the period of time that matches the simultaneous launch we would love to.
But there could potentially be a delay in that regard because of those restrictions but we are looking into it.

Well I mean obviously like any internet-based company there's always the risk and you know my dot-com realizes this we realize
this of individuals attempting to breach our security to steal account information you know that's why we utilize different security precautions such as hash tagging out the details of your account personal information and I'm sure that my comm has implemented.

Well what I can say is that I mean like all of us who watch the news, when there is any opportunity for security breaches to occur with any internet-based company that hosts personal information, the companies that tend to have breaches in the past are the ones who tend to beef up their security the most going forward.
So regardless I would say of what security breaches have occurred in the past, I think that those would be an indicator of my.com mail.ru reinforcing and beefing up their security precautions.
But that is obviously something that Intrepid Studios will discuss with them and ensure that you know our community, not just the community now, but our community in the future for EU mail.ru does have additional safeguards in place for secure information.

Security measures are in the current contract.

I will say this though, guys, specifics with regards to contract language or details I am obligated not to discuss.
But I can give you direction that it is in Intrepid Studios interest to make sure that verbiage is always in place to secure our community's security.

Well you know, as I said, part of this partnership with mail.ru and my.com is important for Intrepid Studios to work very
closely with them.
If that's a concern of our communities, it is something obviously that we will bring to their attention and vet as progress to be made.
In that regard I will say this is no small project for mail.ru and my.com, Ashes of Creation is a very large MMORPG even at this point without being released yet.
With the size of our community, with the daily hits on our web, without having not even done marketing yet we are in a very
interesting position from any other MMORPG that's released especially for being a brand new IP
This is almost unheard of the level of following and community size that we've been able to achieve with still this amount of time yet to launch.
So you'll see in the my.com statement today even they said they believe this will be one of the largest MMOs ever released and we share that belief which means that it is in both parties best interests that we work very closely together to accommodate the concerns and wants of our community and I think they recognize as we do that the way forward in online gaming is to have a very intimate relationship with your community from the highest parts of a company.
You know just for me to be on discord with you, you know, it is important to know that we're setting the tone for other companies moving forward, I don't think this is often done.

Hello me and alot of others are really concerned about the localization. Because the original kickstarter we were under the impression that there wouldn't be a region lock, any comments ? will there be a region lock now with my.com?

So I did address the region lock with regards to localization.
I will say that one of the very important things that Intrepid Studios is doing is we are coding custom tools in the engine to help facilitate localization efforts on the project, so this makes localization from a publisher standpoint a much easier process to accommodate, so that not just from a speed standpoint but from being able to fully execute these localization efforts.
Not just for language but for culturalization as well.
There's a lot of tools being built into the project for those localization effort on Intrepid's behalf.

So let me since I did kind of understand what your comment was I didn't catch your name, my Russian friend.
I will say that again, I understand the history of many publishers have.
I mean if I think it would be difficult for many people to say which publishers they like.
But I will say that I can tell you in my discussion with mail.ru and my.com they are very dedicated to both the success
of this project and the collaboration with Intrepid Studios.

Is it alright to make a publishing deal over two regions with essentially one russian holding that can be included into sanctions anytime? And why did you pick dudes with such awful rep in the first place?

So again I sort of answered that question to begin with that we had many discussions with many people and it was sincerity and willingness to focus on publication of Ashes of Creation with Intrepid retaining a hundred percent creative control over the project that led us to believe my.com and mail.ru will do the best job by our community standard.
With regards to one Russian holding that could be secluded in sanctions at any time that's a trickier question.
You know it is I don't have a concern over that side of things.
When we have a very strong legal team and we don't believe that there would be any potential future geopolitical situations that would include sanctions of an already published and licensed product, especially a virtual one.
If anything you know the impact would be on accounting standpoint.

Well it comes down to not just the capabilities that my.com and mail.ru have, from an infrastructure standpoint, from an employee base standpoint, from a monetary capability standpoint, but also in our discussions with them we felt most comfortable with their understanding of our objectives as developers, as gamers of answering call the forward when it comes to cash grab money pay to win stealing effort.
But I'd hear to Ashes of Creations desires for that and it's not just a matter of trust.
You know this stuff is contractual, so it's not really trust, that's the issue there

Well, it's about bringing our communities globally the ability to play Ashes of Creation before 2020 and it's also about making sure that we have strong global partners to handle the size of the launch we're expecting for Ashes of Creation.
You know I don't want to predict what that size will be but right now we have projections that are pretty big and those projections are backed up by some pretty solid forecasts.

Both, I think.
I think that Intrepid will always have community that anybody globally can plug into.
That includes our forum, that includes our discord, those are managed by us and then additionally I believe that my.com and/or mail.ru will also have community sites that you'll be able to connect to if you wish.
You know that's fine.

Those who kickstarted, or already got packs: are they fine with their current package when it comes to their lifetime sub?

Yes, they are.
That was absolutely a topic of our discussion with many potential publishers was that it is an absolute red line for Intrepid Studios that our Kickstarter and already purchased account holder are accommodated and fulfilled so that is something that...

Again, discussion that we had with mail.ru and my.com were, they were just the best discussions that we had when it came to vision, shared vision and understanding that, you know, we retain that control and that this will be their number one focus and then additionally, you know, that guys over there at my.com...
Talking with Volker today, with Michael, with Andreas, with Alexei, these are good guys who are gamers, you know it's so funny is that many of the my.com guys our Kickstarter backers.
So it was actually pretty cool.

No costumer support with tickets lasting months, bad community management and moderation.
Their database had major leakage leading to accounts getting hacked.
Promises and nice words is something My.com great at. Not delivering them is what they are known best for.
Could you please release a form of insurance policy when all these issues occur?

My blanket statement on those guys would be this - with regards to the history that's there, I cannot tell you words and erase your experiences or your perception.
The only thing I could ask you to do is to trust me that the partnership we have struck with my.com and mail.ru and bringing Ashes of Creation to Europe and to Russia and CIS will be a very closed one and it will involve feedback from Intrepid Studios to them and from them to us about the regions and whatever concerns lie in the execution of Ashes of Creation in those regions that we hear for the community you can be rest assured that my ... will see those if not from seeing it from you they'll see it from us and I have full belief that our partnership that we have struck will facilitate the changes you would want to see if they were not satisfactory.
I have complete confidence that discussions we have had now for the past five months and in negotiating these terms are the most beneficial to our community and to the project itself and will ensure not only a long-lasting and retentive a game and in Ashes of Creation.
But additionally will bring a large number of players to the project and as you know with an MMORPG population is key population is key to to making game more enjoyable for everybody.
With that being said you know I want to make sure that you know despite some of the reception we've seen today this is very good news.
I can't get into the details but I can tell you know with myself personally funding the project entirely this brings this deal does bring quite a considerable amount of resources to the project from a development standpoint and those resources go directly into the project additionally.
So this is a very good day for the project, for Ashes of Creation, and I do want you to know I see your concern but I would ask that here and at least until you see these problems for yourself I would ask that you grant some leeway and allow the industry to turn a page.
What we what we said early on and kick start it was that we as gamers were upset in the direction that publishers and development studios have gone.
And one of the ways that we help to turn the page in the practices of you know other companies or developer studios whatever is to shed the light on the desires of the community, what resonates with players.

1. the game going p2w as the publishers may have all rights to adjust the payment model. will you have any safety features, to prevent that?
2. New question about region locking... I had a similar issue with BDO, when they have region locked Lithuania. and Lithuania IS a part of europe and has been for many years, yet I was still not able to play on Europe and was forced to play on .RU service. the problem is, that Lithuanians even understand Russian... how will be it with AOC? who will be the publisher in Lithuania?
3. What will the payment plan be?
4. how are we going to pay for the game? paypal? card?
5. if stuff goes south, will you be able to change the publisher?

1. Game will not be P2W.
2. We don't have answer for region-locking yet, however...
3. Subscription.
4. I don't know this specific answer, maybe both might be fine.
5. I don't believe that things will go south but I believe if that things do go south both the publisher and the developers would want to change the arrangement, so I don't believe there's concern about that.

I believe if the EU listened to to what my.com saying and the effort that they are showing right now and in assuring the community that they will do everything possible and have a lot of resources available to do so to facilitate a good environment from customer service standpoint, from a server standpoint, and will be working closely with Intrepid to ensure those things.
I don't believe there will be many EU refugees.
I think EU will give my.com a chance and will see the success they will have achieved and the opportunity for everyone.

When did you know you could not self-publish? Why did you not tell us sooner?

I believe I actually commented about that on Discord that it would be possible...
It was something we were looking into but...
The reason why there was such a short notice for Gamescom was because we quite literally...
I hope that you extend some trust in that regard.
I'm not trying to say that to discount your experiences, but I am saying this from a from an understanding that you know Ashes of Creation is my baby and I will make sure that I see you and Russian and CIS community is taken care of, and that means a close relationship with my.com and mail.ru to hear their community...
So I will stick around on Discord to type a little bit longer but I appreciate you guys hopping voice chat and giving me a chance to talk.